Never Gonna Bring Us Down
by Amaya-EA
Summary: Fresh off another World Beyblading Championship Tournament win: Tyson is eager to celebrate with his friends and teammates. But unknown assailants manage to make the boys lives a living hell. Who is behind the trouble and what is their end game? WARNING! This story contains yaoi, violence, language and adult situations


"And the winner of the third annual World Beyblade Championship is: Tyson Granger!" The announcers' voice rang through the crowd and echoed around the stadium. The crowd met the boom voice with a thunderous roar of their own.

Tyson blushed and waved graciously at the crowd. He _had_ _hoped_ that most of the people would have disbursed by the time his match started or at least when it was half way through. As much as he enjoyed basking in their glowing admiration, he wasn't didn't like being the centre of attention as much as everyone said he did.

Being the he was the three-time defending champion; however, he knew he hopes were wasted.

 _Dare to dream_ he thought to himself. He looked through the crowd, his eyes trying to pinpoint his friends and teammates: Max, Rei and Kai. When he spotted Max and Rei, he shot Max a lopsided grin.

Max returned the familiar facial expression and waved at his friend. Tyson smiled and continued scanning the crowd for Kai.

 _Oh Kai,_ my _Kai._

Tyson glanced around the stadium once and then scanned a little more meticulously the second time. He looked for features that matched Kai's but he just couldn't manage to pick his lover out from anyone else in the crowd.

Unbeknownst to him, Kai was standing in the stadium's largest entrance, waiting for the match to end so that he could be among the first to congratulate Tyson.

 _I knew he could do it. Good old Tyson never lets_ anybody _down. We're running out of room for his trophies at home though. I think that might come up in conversation at some point tonight seeing as how he's never the one stuck cleaning them. Maybe he could donate them._ Kai thought smiling. He started walking slowly towards a very giddy Tyson. By the time he realized what hit him: both boys were on the ground laughing.

Rei and Max sat in their seats and smiled at the outpouring of affection between their teammates. Kai was not a big fan of PDA so this was a bigger deal for him than it was for Tyson.

"I'm so glad everything worked out for those two." Max wasn't addressing anyone in particular with his comment. He was just expressing his thoughts.

Rei nodded, knowing the full extent of what Max's words meant. Rei shared his happiness when it came to the subject of Kai and Tyson being together.

When Kai and Tyson first came out to their friends, they were pleasantly surprised at the reactions they received as well as all of the support. Well…Tyson was happy anyway.

After the big announcement, when they got in the front door of their apartment, Tyson smiled at his friends and walked over to the couch to lie down. Just as he was about ready to relax: Max grabbed his hand and hauled him into the kitchen.

Rei peeked around the corner. Max was talking to Tyson in quiet whispers. Now that he was sure Max was out of earshot, Rei shot Kai a cold stare. He walked past Kai towards the stairs. Just prior to his ascension of them, he said "don't break his heart, Kai. I'll be watching you."

Kai's eyes were shooting imaginary daggers at Rei's back. "What kind of person do you think I am? And just for the record: you don't scare me, Rei."

"That's exactly my point, Kai. I _don't_ know what kind of person you are. I'm just putting it out in the universe. Don't mess with Tyson."

Kai laughed. "As you wish."

But all of that seemed like so long ago. Rei forgot his vague threat and Kai forgot to be looking over his shoulder. For his part, Kai was glad that he didn't have to endure any further altercations. He had no interest in fighting with Rei or anyone else for that matter.

"Shall we join them?" asked Max, somewhat sarcastically. Rei smiled at him. Max stretched, got out of his seat and started running down the stadium steps. Max jumped over the guardrail. Rei looked away to avoid laughing at his friend. Some days Max was agile like an animal. Other days, his own feet were his worst enemy. When he didn't hear a thud or a loud "ouch" Rei assumed that today was one of Max's more agile days. Rei followed suit and they joined their teammates in the centre of the stadium.

Max greeted his yaoi teammates with a great big bear hug and lots of smiles. Even though Rei was just as happy as Max, he was typically more reserved and only showed true raw emotion when it was absolutely necessary. In the case, a simple handshake in lieu of a hug would suffice.

The four teammates waved in unison at the crowd one last time. Rei liked attention even less than Tyson. He stood off to the side, allowing the other three to talk amongst themselves.

"So when are you going to tell them?" a familiar voice hissed at Rei.

Rei spun around to see Tala standing there. Arms crossed, his eyes were cold and glazed over. He smirked and then turned away. "I don't know what you mean, Tala."

Tala scoffed. "You lying turd. One day you're going to tell them. But if you want some free advice…"

"…Tala I will _never_ want any advice from you. Free or otherwise. And by the by, I know you've been pulling some aces out of your sleeve so that "things" will work out in your favor. One of these days you're going to get caught." Rei whispered over his shoulder. It was only a matter of time before Kai, Tyson or Max realized there was an unwanted guest with him. He hoped Tala would just take a hint and leave them all alone.

Looking mock offending, Tala rolled his eyes. "Why Rei, what on earth could you mean by that?"

Rei spun around to face Tala once more. "You know _exactly_ what I mean. Don't try to play dumb, you're not very good at it." Off in the distance, he could see Kai and Tyson holding hands. He knew Tala could see this as well.

"Was the supposed to make me jealous? If anything I'd say _you're_ the one who's jealous" Tala stated matter-of-factly.

Rei growled. "Shut up, Tala. Don't make me hurt you." He tried to walk to the exit but Tala intercepted him by grabbing his shoulder.

"Maybe there's a way we can _both_ get what we want." Tala began whispering his plan into Rei's ear. The more he said the more nervous Rei looked. "Don't give me an answer right now. Mull it over. Let me know when you're ready. And _don't_ tell _anyone_."

Tala put his hands in his pockets and walked away from Rei. Then he shouted "if you change your mind, you know where to find me" and disappeared into the shadows.

"Rei! Hey Rei!" Max was calling him. "Get back over here." He walked back over to the centre of the ring.

"Congratulations, Tyson." Said Rei, putting his hand up for a high five.

Tyson returned the gesture. "Thanks Rei."

"Guys I'm starving. Let's go grab something to eat." Suggested Max, cheerfully.

The four friends started walking in sync towards the main stadium exit. They walked down a busy street towards a long string of restaurants. Max was in the mood for pizza, Rei had no preference, Tyson was in the mood for sushi and Kai also had no preference. Though if he was being honest, he would have preferred if Max and Rei went their own way so he and Tyson could enjoy some alone time.

"Rei, why don't you and Max go get pizza while Tyson and I go get sushi." Kai suggested, hoping that his tone was _just_ subtle enough that Rei would get the hint.

Putting on his best "you owe me one" face, Rei said "sure, sounds great." Max and Rei started talking quietly as they walked in the direction of the pizza place.

Kai and Tyson held hands while Kai led the way. "I know this great sushi place that we should try." Later in the evening, Kai and Tyson came barreling through the front door of the hotel room. They were talking and laughing extremely loudly, to the point of disrupting other guests in the hotel.

When they came in, they knocked over and landed on Rei and Max who happened to have gotten in just a few moments earlier. Kai and Tyson were dying of laughter. Max was being squished and Rei was totally unamused.

Kai pulled himself together and help Tyson out of the heap of human. Rei and Max helped one another up and stared at Kai and Tyson, waiting for either of them to explain or at least apologize. Tyson was having a ridiculously hard time keeping a straight face and Kai wasn't doing much better.

Max sighed and walked into the kitchen. Tyson looked sheepishly at Kai who shrugged in response and continued his laughing fit. Tyson took his cue and followed Max. Kai got a real hold of himself and tried to muffle his laughter. Rei nudged him in the ribs, motioning for them to go into the living room.

"What's the matter with you? With _both_ of you." Rei's voice was dangerously low.

"We were having _fun_. When did that become a crime?" No laughter from Rei for that slightly sarcastic comment. "Rei, what bug crawled up your ass and died?"

"Whatever." Rei started to walk away and Kai put his hand firmly on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Kai sounded sincere but Rei wasn't totally convinced. Rei nodded, pulled away and went upstairs to his room. He closed the door, grabbed his phone and sat on his bed. He was about to dial a number he had easily been able to commit to memory and sighed. Was he sure about this? He pushed the first three numbers and then changed his mind and put the phone back on the cradle.

 _What am I doing?_

Throughout the hotel, a loud banging could be heard echoing up and down the halls. The boys couldn't tell what the noise was or where the hell it was coming from. It got closer and closer and it turned out to be coming from their front door.

"I've got it." Kenny's shrill voice spoke up before anyone else really had a chance to process what was happening. Rei opened the door to his bedroom and leaned on it, waiting to hear who was there. All he could hear was mumbling and then a very panicked "Tyson could you come over here? Now."

Rei decided to go downstairs at the same moment that Tyson and Max came out of the kitchen. Kai was sitting on the couch. He didn't seem overly concerned about their mysterious guest. Tyson slowly walked towards the front door and nodded at Kenny, seemly confirming that everything was ok. He went into the hotel hall and shut the door behind him. Kenny sank to the floor.

"Kenny…who were those guys?" Max asked nervously.

Everyone looked at Kenny, waiting on his answer. "I…they…didn't look familiar at all." He was whispering. He had the worst sinking feeling that they shouldn't have let Tyson go out there alone.

Max was about to ask another question when his thought was interrupted by a loud yelp coming from the hotel hallway. Kenny moved away from the door and Max ripped it open as fast as he could. He looked up and down the halls and saw no one. "Guys they're not here." He said over his shoulder. He turned around to look at his teammates. "Now what do we do?"

Rei had a thought and ran over to their balcony. Max and Kenny followed suit. Kai was right behind them when he heard a door slam. He went down the main hallway to see Max's bedroom door shut. Kai opened it and went inside slowly. He looked all around and notice the closet doors had been flung open. Suddenly Max was right behind him. They peaked into the closet and noticed a draft. They bolted through the clothes and the closet was suddenly a hallway. Continuing along, they noticed a door that lead to a staircase. "Is this Narnia? What's going on in this hotel?" Max asked, a little out of breath trying to keep pace with Kai.

"Tyson must have known about this passageway. I think he tried to get away from whomever. We have to find him, Max." Kai's voice was filled with chagrin.

They quickened their pace down the steps. Five large flights took no time. When they arrived on the lobby landing, Kai kicked the door open as hard as he could. He and Max ran through it right into a dark alley. They couldn't see anything or anyone. "Tyson!" Max screamed. "Where are you? Say something!"

Kai and his cat-like reflexes instinctively grabbed Max and covered his mouth. "Would you quit it? We don't want to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves." Kai was whispering. He knelt down towards the ground, bringing Max with him. "If those guys are still lurking around, finding Tyson will be the _least_ of our concerns." He suddenly realized he couldn't feel the exhaled air coming from Max' nose so he removed his hand.

"Thanks…for that…Kai." Max wheezed, catching his breath as quietly as he could.

Kai nodded and looked around the alley. He nudged Max' shoulder and Max looked to where Kai was pointing. Max gasped. He and Kai got up and walked slowly towards Rei. Even in the dark, they could tell that his black pants were smeared in something that looked an awful lot like blood. Rei stood up from the ground where he had been kneeling and looked at Max, then Kai, then back at Max. "They heard me coming and took off. I didn't see where…Kai I'm sorry."

Kai fell to the ground. Just next to Rei was an unconscious Tyson. Kai gingerly lifted his lovers' head into his lap. Kai stroked his face for a moment and then froze. Tyson was burning up. "Someone go call 119." Kai's voice was stone cold serious and low.

Max ran down the alley to the closet main street. He found a candy store on the corner and ran inside. "Sir please, I really need to use your phone. It's an emergency." He pointed in the direction of the alley. "It's my friend. He's really not doing well. I need an ambulance, please. Some punks beat him up. Could I just use your phone? It'll only take a second."

The store clerk put his hands on Max' shoulders. "Calm down, young man. Take a breath and tell me what happened."

Max shrugged the hands off. "I don't have time for this. Call an ambulance. Tell it to come here. Tell them I'll be waiting to guide them to him. Hurry. Please." A darkness spread across Max' face as he turned and left the store. A single tear slipped down his cheek. He stood on the stoop of the shop and wiped it away. Taking a deep breath: he took off again for the alley and his friends. _Please be ok, Tyson. We can't lose you…_

Roughly 10 minutes later, they heard the wail of the ambulance siren. The candy store owner and a few other clerks from nearby businesses walked down the alley with the ambulance technicians to see what was going on.

Two men in white uniforms started checking Tyson's vitals. "Could you give us some space, boys? We know he's your friend and one of you is welcome to ride in the ambulance but right now we need to assess him." Rei, Kai and Max all moved back to give the men room to work. They shone a flashlight in his eyes, checked his pulse and tried to ask him his name. He was completely unresponsive. They picked him up and slid him onto a stretcher. Once he was tied down, they loaded him into the ambulance.

Without even really talking about it: Kai and Rei had concluded that Max should go with Tyson in the ambulance. Kai knew that he'd be emotionally unavailable and completely unhelpful when it came time for questions and decisions. If Rei went, there was a chance that (out of rage and frustration) Kai might do something irrational and Max wouldn't be able to contain him or calm him down.

Naturally, Max assumed that Kai would want to go, so he started walking back to the hotel.

"Go on, Max. We think you should be the one to go with Tyson." Rei called after him, quietly.

"W-what? I-I can't, Rei. I-I mean I shouldn't. I think that K-Kai should be the one to go." Max stuttered, turning to stare at Rei in utter disbelief.

"We only have room for one of you boys in here. And in your friends condition: the longer it takes us to get to the hospital, the more dangerous it becomes for him. Not to put you under any more duress but one of you should ride with us and the others can follow later on." One of the ambulance technicians was calling to the boys, trying his best to sound more helpful than hurtful. "If you could just make a decision…"

"We're working on it!" Kai snapped. He looked angrily at the technician. Kai's eyes went soft when he looked back over at Max, who was on the verge of tears.

"I can take them!" A man's voice shouted from somewhere in the small crowd. Four heads turned in unison to see who the voice had come from. It was the candy man. "I can take them." He said again, trying to get past the bystanders to the boys. He pushed his way through and walked right over to Max. "You go with your friend. I will bring your other friends. We will meet you shortly." He grinned grimly.

Max couldn't quite manage to return the gesture so he nodded his thanks. "Rei I think you should-"

"Of course Max." Rei cut Max off. He assumed Max had wanted to relinquish his seat in the ambulance.

"I think you and Kai should go in the car." Max looked at Kai. "Do you have your pager on you?"

Kai nodded. "Always."

"I'll page you if they tell me anything. _When_ they tell me anything. That makes sense, right?" Max turned to get into the ambulance.

Rei grabbed his shoulder. "We'll be right behind you. Don't worry about us ok, Maxie?" Max nodded and then jumped into the ambulance. It took off.

Kai and Rei followed the candy store owner down the alley to his blue Chevy. The tall, lanky man unlocked all of the doors and walked away from his car. "I just have to lock up first."

Kai climbed into shotgun and Rei hopped in the back seat right behind Kai.

The candy store owner came back quickly and started his car. "I'm terribly sorry about your friend, boys. My name is Ren by the way. It's a shame to meet under such circumstances." He held his hand towards Kai and it went a minute or two ignored until Rei reached to shake in his stead.

"I'm Rei and and this is Kai. We really appreciate this."

The ambulance had waited for them. Ren followed close behind it. All the passengers of the blue Chevy were silent until Kai's pager went off. He fumbled with it under his seat belt. "Sorry." He mumbled quietly. Rei assumed that he had hit the call button by accident. After that it was silent again. The kind of silence that _nobody_ enjoyed.

They got to the hospital in no time. Ren barely had time to pull over before Kai was unbuckling his seat belt and opening the passenger side door. Rei was only slightly more polite: offering his hand to Ren again as he was opening his own door. "So uh…thanks again for the ride and…"

"Don't think you're getting rid of me that easily, kiddo. I'd like to come in and see how your friends are doing." Ren turned to face Rei. "If that's alright with you and Kai, of course."

Kai turned around when he heard his name. He looked at Rei but already knew that answer. He sighed. "Fine," he said and continued walking towards the ambulance. Rei got out and ran after Kai. Ren parked the car properly, locked it and ran to catch up with the others. They walked through the sliding front doors next to the ambulance entrance. Kai looked around, spotted the check triage desk and walked over to it. "Tyson Granger" he said coldly. The medical secretary looked up from what she was doing, gave him a once over, sighed and put her head right back down. Kai coughed. "Tyson. Granger. Give me paper, I'll spell it out for you." Again, the secretary simply stared at him. He was starting to get frustrated.

Rei and Ren hung back in the waiting area. He looked over at Kai and noticed he didn't seem to be having much luck. He decided to take a shot at it. Rei walked over and stood beside Kai.

The secretary looked up again but this time she smiled. "May I help you, young man?" She asked sweetly, directing her gaze at Rei.

Kai could tell that she was being spiteful just by her tone. He wasn't having it. "Tyson Granger. We're looking for our friend Tyson Granger. How many times do I need to say it?"

Rei nudged Kai's elbow. "Sorry miss, my friend here is a bit agitated. The person we're looking for, Tyson, he was jumped in an alley near our hotel. We'd really appreciate it if you could tell us where in the hospital he was sent."

"Just one moment young man, let me see which room he's in for you." She smiled sweetly at Rei and began tapping away at her keyboard. Rei heard something beep. She looked up. "He was just checked into the ER, boys. I could tell you the exact name of the sector and how to get there but I'm afraid you won't be able to see him right away."

"That's alright. We just want to be there to ask questions until he wakes up. Thank you, miss. We really appreciate your help." Rei said politely.

The secretary wrote a few things down on a piece of paper, folded it up, handed it to Rei and nodded at him. "Good luck."

Rei smiled at her, took the paper and walked back to Ren with Kai in tow.

"Well?" Ren asked. "Where did they put him?"

As he was about to flip open the paper, Kai snatched it away from him. "You're taking too long, Rei." Rei rolled his eyes but decided to let it slide. Kai opened the paper and handed it back to Rei. "Western wing, sector A5, fifth floor."

"Let's go find the elevator." Suggested Ren.

Kai was way ahead of Rei and Ren. He had actually already managed to find and make it to the elevators. "Any day now." He called over his shoulder impatiently, as he pushed the open door button on the wall. He got in and stuck his arm in the way of the closing doors. Rei and Ren walked briskly and got in to the elevator with Kai. He moved his arm, the doors closed and he pushed the five button.

The elevator seemed somewhat slow to Rei. He wondered where the usual cheesy music was. Without it, the ride was long, slow and extremely quiet. The doors opened on the third floor and two nurses got in. Then it hit him. _Hospital. The elevator has to be slow and there can't be music. Duh._

When the elevator reached the fifth floor: only Kai, Rei and Ren got out. They walked down the hall through one waiting room and then a double set of doors. The whole area of the hospital they were in was dimly lit. The boys eyes were having trouble adjusting.

Finally after passing through another hallway and one more set of doors: the found themselves at another reception desk. Knowing the routine by now, Rei decided to go and find out if they could see Tyson. He walked up to the desk and handed the lady the piece of paper he had received from the receptionist downstairs. She looked it over and added a few more instructions.

Kai watched Rei thank her and waited for him to come over. "So where is he?" Kai asked.

"We keep going down this hallway over here until we have to turn left. There should be another waiting room on our right. At least I think that's what I understood." Rei said, shrugging.

The three boys walked single file past the reception desk and started down the aforementioned hallway. Just as the instructions said: at the end of the hall, they were forward to turn left.

Almost immediately on their right, there was a waiting room _full_ of people. Two small children were huddled together in a corner. The little girl was crying. Rei wasn't as sensitive as Max but he was sad to see the girl so upset. He almost walked over and then thought better of it. _How weird would it look to them, to the boys and oh yes: everyone else in this room?_ He thought. Rei sat on a chair facing the window, Kai leaned on the wall and Ren took a seat on the floor. Rei looked over at the kids. _Who sends kids to the hospital by themselves? Or if they weren't sent here: who leaves kids alone in a waiting room full of strangers?_

The little girls' pale face was streaked with tears, her hair was a matted, tangled mess. Her brother, who didn't look to be that much older than her, was cradling her gently in his arms. He was trying to keep her calm and quiet but she was shaking.

Rei couldn't stand it anymore. He sighed and walked over to them. Kneeling to be on their level, he smiled. "What's your name?" he asked, directing the question at the little girl.

She looked at him, took a breath and tried to compose herself. "Kiki." She whispered.

He patted her on the shoulder and looked at her brother. "Why are you two here all alone?"

"Our daddy beat up our mom. Our other brother is in there with her." The boys' voice was soft as well. He looked worse off than his sister. As though he hadn't eaten a decent meal in days.

"My name is Rei." He held his hand out. "What's your name?"

"Kent." The boy said, returning Rei's heart-felt gesture. Rei sat cross-legged next to the kids. "Who are you here for?" Kent asked.

Rei looked at him and frowned. "A friend." He wasn't sure what exactly he could or should say. "I'll get back to you on the details. Suddenly he was extremely fatigued. He closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the ceiling, trying to figure out how to answer that loaded question. He felt himself drifting off.

Suddenly, it sounded like someone was calling his name.

"Rei. Rei? Rei!" He opened his eyes slowly to see a pale and concerned Max kneeling in front of him.

"Max? How long have I been out?" He asked groggily. It couldn't have been _that_ long. He felt like he had barely closed his eyes for a minute.

"Somewhere between an hour or two. Kai and Ren weren't keeping track because they both knocked out too." Max informed him.

Rei jumped up and looked beside him. The kids were gone. He felt bad for never having given Kent an answer. He focused his attention back on Max. "How is Tyson? Has he woken up yet? Did the doctor say he'd be ok? Can we take him home with us?" Rei fired one question after another at Max.

Poor guy had almost no time to process one question let alone answer it before another one was hurled at him. "Could you slow down just a tad? I'm happy to tell you what I know but you have to let me get a word in."

Rei took a breath. "How is Tyson?" He asked calmly.

Max sighed and looked down at his sneakers. "He's in a coma," Max mumbled.

"What did you say? Speak up, Maxie." Rei put his hand on Max' shoulder.

Max looked up at Rei, a few tears had slipped down his cheeks. "Tyson…he's in a coma. The doctors don't know for how long…" Rei gasped. He could feel tears starting to slide down his own cheeks. Without real warning: Max flung himself into Rei's chest. It took a moment for him to react but once he was over the initial shock, Rei wrapped his arms around Max. They slid to the ground, sobbing quietly onto each other's shoulders.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by Kai. "We have to go. It's past midnight."

Max pulled away from Rei, wiped his eyes and hopped to his feet. He put his hand out and helped Rei back up. The boys walked out of the waiting room, down the hall, past the other waiting room and through all the sets of doors until they got back to the elevator. Max pushed the down button.

"Uh guys…where's Ren?" Rei asked, only now realizing that he wasn't with them.

"He was gone when Max woke me up. I guess he had to get back to his store. We'll have to remember to go thank him for the ride when we have a chance." Kai suggested.

The elevator doors opened and the boys got in, each leaning on a separate wall as Max pushed the G button. The doors closed and down they went.


End file.
